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To be a good cop you have to be a decent human being

Posted by Zoom! on December 13, 2010, at 10:42 am |

I’m starting to feel ever so slightly sorry for the Ottawa police. Not all of them, mind you. Just the good apples. The ones who don’t abuse their power, kick homeless people, strip sex workers naked in public, beat anybody up, or sexually assault women in their custody.

And honestly, I do believe that there are plenty of cops who do their jobs in a respectful and professional way. Nat did this a few days ago, and I’m going to do it today: I’m going to name three good apples in the Ottawa Police Services. I’ve seen all three of these cops doing their jobs in a professional and respectful way, and I hold them all in high regard:

Abdul Abdi
Steve Cashen
Gina Rosa

As for the bad ones? No sympathy here. They disgust me. They’ve gotten away with being bullies for far too long already. They’ve coasted on our collective blind respect for authority, which makes us doubt the credibility of victims before we question the conduct of police.

I’m disgusted with the police union, too, urging all the cops to “circle the wagons.”

“Please continue to support each other and reach out to those whose names and
reputations are being stomped on by opportunistic individuals with a
bone to pick who are using the media to further their cause.”

We’ve all seen the videos with our own eyes. Frankly, it’s hard to care about protecting the reputations of those who stomp on other people’s basic human rights.

I understand that morale is low and decent cops are feeling unfairly tarnished by all the police brutality scandals that are surfacing. But blaming the victims and supporting bad cops is not the solution. If they want respect within the community, they have to hold themselves and each other to a respectable standard of conduct.

To be a good cop you have to be a decent human being. I think that’s a reasonable standard to hold all cops to.

5 comments to To be a good cop you have to be a decent human being

The union seems to have taken a page from OC Tranpo’s … holy crap what are they thinking. I got all infuriated reading some of the testimony over the weekend. What the heck is up with these guys. Sigh.

This is a great initiative. I agree that most of those men and women are doing a great job in what can be a most frustrating profession. And kudos to them for doing it. But I cannot abide their union’s stance in this whole issue which, if you get right down to it is really the root of the problem. It’s the union that has got us all to the point where officers who do something improper or even illegal can’t be fired, so there’s that “untouchable” culture that has to be changed before we’ll see any significant improvement, imo.

Thank you for this post Zoom. I completely agree. I’d like to add my friend Robyn Sutton to the list of police officers that do an outstanding job. She is compassionate and cares about the community. She’s the real deal.